Tag Archives: Variable Oystercatcher

Ulva Island – Stewart Island – NEW ZEALAND

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Tuesday 17/03/2026    Golden Bay (Water Taxi) – Paterson Inlet/ Whaka a Te Wera – Post Office Bay – Flagstaff Point – Conservation Walk – Boulder Beach – West End Beach – Post Office Bat Track –

                                          Ulva Island / Te Wharawhara Walking Tracks (including Flagstaff Point Lookout, Boulder Beach Track and West End Beach Track)

                                          Rakiura National Park

                                          Stewart Island / Rakiura

                                          Southland Region, NEW ZEALAND (Aotearoa)

                                          Rakiura Country (Ngãi Tahu people)                                

Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report)

We took the water taxi from Golden Bay across Paterson Inlet to Post Office Bay on Ulva Island on a mild March afternoon. The forest rose like a dark green wall ahead — stepping ashore, the stillness was broken only by birdsong. The island is a predator-free sanctuary and it shows.

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Oban – Half Moon Bay – Horseshoe Point – Stewart Island – NEW ZEALAND

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Monday 16/03/2026   Stewart Island Backpackers – Elgin Terrace – Mill Creek – Horseshoe Bay Road – Butterfield Beach – Horseshoe Point Road – Horseshoe Bay Beach – Horseshoe Point – Simons Beach – Sarah Cove – Braggs Bay Road – Braggs Bay – Moturau Moana Native Gardens

                                         Oban – Half Moon Bay – Horseshoe Point

                                         Stewart Island / Rakiura

                                         Southland Region, NEW ZEALAND (Aotearoa)

                                         Rakiura Country (Ngãi Tahu people)                                 

Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report)

We set off from the Stewart Island Backpackers in Oban on a cool March morning with scattered showers and a brisk south-westerly — typical Stewart Island weather. The route climbs out past Mill Creek and along Horseshoe Bay Road, the houses thinning as the road rises. It’s straightforward roadside walking with a steady gradient — this island is anything but flat. The views of the coast opened up nicely, with Butterfield Beach curling around below and Horseshoe Point in the distance.

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Tunnel Beach Walk – Tunnel Beach – NEW ZEALAND

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Friday 6/03/2026   Tunnel Beach Car Park, Green Island Bush Road – Tunnel Beach Walk – Tunnel Beach – Tunnel (hand-carved, 1870s) – Natural Rock Arch – Clifftop Track – Forbury Head – Blowhole – Second Beach – Second Beach Track – St Clair Esplanade / St Clair Beach (Whakahekerau                                 

                                   Tunnel Beach Recreation Reserve (Doc) / South Dunedin Coastal Cliffs

                                   Otago Region, NEW ZEALAND (Aotearoa)

                                   Ngãi Tahu / Kãi Tahu Country (Ngãi Tahu / Kãi Tahu people)

                         

Participants: Beth Davies, Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report), Pablo Ureña Vega

From the gravel car park at the end of Green Island Bush Road — a clifftop paddock perched some 139 metres above the Southern Ocean — the Tunnel Beach Walk plunges immediately downhill on a well-formed, steep gravel single track. Five successive viewpoints, each a fenced clifftop “nest”, serve up progressively wider panoramas of sculpted sandstone headlands. Continue reading →

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